This invention relates to conveyors formed by a pair of spaced, substantially parallel belts, and more particularly, to such conveyors having reversed or zigzag travel.
Conveyor belts are used for two principal purposes: to transport materials from one point to a different point or to carry materials through a processing zone. The length of a conveyor is obviously fixed by the distance between the two points when the purpose of the conveyor is simply to transport material therebetween. However, when the conveyor serves to carry material through a processing zone, such as a cooking, drying, baking, frying, chilling fumigating or other treatment zone, time becomes an important factor in determining the length of the conveyor. For example, to achieve a desired processing result and at the same time to maintain a desired production rate (pounds or other units per hour) a conveyor with a length of 150 feet may be required. This conveyor not only will take up a great deal of valuable floor area in a building but worse yet will require a building having at least one dimension in excess of 150 feet. Consequently, such a long processing conveyor is burdened with high capital and overhead costs.
A principal object of this invention is to reduce the floor length requirement of a processing conveyor.
Another important object is to hold the material on the processing conveyor in place while undergoing treatment.
A further object is to turn the material on the conveyor upside down during treatment.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description which follows.